Yang Hansen and Yu Jiahao are undoubtedly the two most anticipated center forwards of the local post-00s.
Yu Jiahao played an average of 26.8 minutes per game in his debut season, handing over 12.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.6 blocks, with a true shooting rate of 65.6%, surpassing 88% of centers. Now in his third season, the 2023-24 season averaged 30.0 minutes per game, handed over 13.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 blocks, and improved his true shooting percentage to 68.3%, surpassing 95% of centers in the league.
The 2023-24 season is also Hansen Yang's debut season, averaging 15.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.3 blocks in 34.5 minutes per game, with a true shooting rate of 59.5%, surpassing 62% of centers in the league.
In terms of points, rebounds, assists and blocks, Yu Jiahao seems to be slightly inferior to Yang Hansen, but in fact this is not the case, the basic data is not too convincing, and needs to be discussed in combination with the team environment, personal characteristics and high-level data.
Yang Hansen is clearly different from Yu Jiahao.
Liu Weiwei's unlucky place is not only that he just turned Zhejiang's little-known young team into a strong team in the league, and parted ways due to disagreements with the club's management, but more importantly, in the years of building an offensive and defensive system in Zhejiang, he did not encounter an inside line like Yu Jiahao, and waited until Liu Weiwei's last year in Zhejiang, Yu Jiahao was late.
But fortunately, the bad luck in Zhejiang turned into happiness in Qingdao. Before and after Liu Weiwei joined Qingdao, Zhao Jiayi in the No. 4 position in the space, Wang Ruize, the all-star three-point king, and Yang Hansen, the famous national youth thigh early, joined, in addition, the introduction of Xiaowai this season was more successful, Powell and Moody are the kind of dual-energy guards with stronger strength, stronger defense and better offense, which is the reason why Qingdao has become the biggest dark horse in the league this season.
Liu Weiwei's Qingdao coaching whip has improved in the first season but is not successful, after all, it is only one step away from the playoffs (13th), so Yang Hansen's joining, there is a kind of hope for the stars, the moon, and the expectation that Yang Hansen will save the team, and for Liu Weiwei, Yang Hansen's characteristics and abilities obviously have the conditions to become the cornerstone of Qingdao's attack and defense and the core of the team.
Therefore, the system that Qingdao has now built around Yang Hansen is Yang Hansen and small outside blocking, Yang Hansen's high-low and high-low strategy, Yang Hansen's low-post back play and the shooter's off-ball cover, most of which the off-ball cover for the shooter exists in Yang Hansen's blocking and high-low positioning.
Yang Hansen is undoubtedly the core of Qingdao's tactical system and the dominant player of the ball, this is Yang Hansen's team environment, this system with the center as the core of organization and scoring, is unique in the CBA, Liao Basket and Shanxi's centers often play the role of the center, but Moreland, Dahan and Ge Zhaobao are more often through the 15 blocks to attract the transmission of the defense, not how difficult the strategy is, many centers can do it, these few do a lot and good, and more importantly, the guard passes well.
Yang Hansen averages 3.9 assists per game, ranking first in the league among all centers, and his assists are not a simple blocking-down-passing, but a low-post back-to-back to attract the outside pass and a teammate who passes back to the front after holding the ball in the high post, and the combination of high, low and high posts, Yang Hansen's strategy dessert covers the entire half.
The dominant ball, for individuals, means, more often, that they can attack according to their habits, whether they have more shots or fewer shots, passes or finishes, face frames or back hits, fixed points or attack frames...... How to choose, it basically depends on your own wishes, for example, although the house you buy and the house you rent can be lived, the feeling is definitely different.
Therefore, the environment of the Qingdao team is friendly to Yang Hansen's growth, with 22.1% of the ball and 11.1 sports shots that Yu Jiahao cannot envy (17.6%, 8.1 shots).
In terms of individual finishing, Yang Hansen's advantages are solid low-post footwork skills, good waist and abdominal strength of the same size, quick turns, and more importantly, high ball intelligence, and the disadvantage is mediocre and average projection. As a result, Young's finishes were more efficient near the small circle – shooting just more than 81 percent of centers under the basket and 46 percent of centers from mid-range.
There is no absolute physical advantage, Yang Hansen's back play can usually only rely on foot outwitting, if you encounter some tonnage matching, ball quotient experience is not bad defenders, Yang Hansen's performance may fall into a trough, with Jilin team veteran Li An against 3 points and 8 boards, with Shougang Fan Ziming against 6 points and 3 boards, with Tao Hanlin against 8 points and 11 boards, with Han and Moreland against 9 points and 11 boards, with Wu Guanxi against 10 points and 7 boards......
In 3 games against Yu Jiahao, he handed over 19.7 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5 assists, and his shooting rate was as high as 71.4%, which was the highest average shooting rate against each team. Yu Jiahao is 3 centimeters taller and weighs 17 kilograms, but the confrontation is weak and slow, in front of Yu Jiahao, Yang Hansen can make a complete and full set of technical moves, after a few feints, Yu Jiahao's center of gravity was deceived, because the tonnage is too large, Yu Jiahao's defense is only a hammer deal, and he can't come back when he goes out, and he can't come up and down, so Yang Hansen can always finish behind Yu Jiahao and under his armpit by relying on solid technology and faster movement.
Limited by athleticism, Yang Hansen's speed, explosiveness and confrontation ability are unlikely to be greatly improved, so the technical conditions that must be met to determine Yang Hansen's future achievement height and whether he can be selected for the NBA are - projection, not just a mid-range shot, can be a sideways throw near the basket, a frontal throw or a hook. These days, Yang Hansen's mid-range shots are indeed increasing, and he probably knows this, shooting 6 of 7 from mid-range in the last game, but it is more necessary to enrich the finishing means near the small circle than mid-range shots, after all, the closer to the basket is always the most efficient, and the less affected by the uncertainty of the feel.
What is certain is that as long as he has the current ball status, Yang Hansen's personal finishing ability will gradually improve with the increase of experience, which is very important, and the level of Yang Hansen's personal ability will naturally determine the future of Qingdao.
As mentioned above, Yu Jiahao does not have Yang Hansen's ball status, after all, before he was promoted to the first team, Zhejiang's offensive system has been basically formed, he just solved the problem of the lack of inside finishing in the original system, Yu Jiahao is dominated by the system, not the dominant system, he does not have too much autonomy to finish, of course, it is not entirely the reason for ability, more importantly, Zhejiang is a team-oriented team, the rationality of the opportunity is always in the first place, and the distribution of the ball is relatively even. Naturally, it cannot be said that it is the difference between a rented house and a bought house, but it is more like a luxury self-built house like a villa built by brothers.
Yu Jiahao's advantage is that he is taller, softer and has a certain mid-range shooting, and the disadvantage is that the confrontation is slightly insufficient, that is, the confrontation is not very dominant when playing with the back of the basket, so this characteristic determines that in order to play more reasonably, Yu Jiahao has to have more shots outside the small circle.
Up to now, Yu Jiahao's basket frequency only exceeds 44% of the league's centers, but the mid-range centers exceed 60%, and the shooting rate exceeds 94% of the centers under the basket, and the mid-range shooting rate exceeds 79% of the centers, that is to say, Yu Jiahao prefers to finish in the middle distance, and the efficiency is high, and when the finish is within the small circle, it is generally a good time, so it can ensure a certain efficiency, at least it shows that Yu Jiahao is a smart player, he knows when to finish, when to pass.
Three counterpoints with Yang Hansen, Yu Jiahao's performance is also very good, averaging 17 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, Yang Hansen's defensive blocking and dismantling is not very dominant, because of his slow footsteps, he often loses one or the other, Yu Jiahao can project the ball in the middle, or he can throw after stepping forward, both ways, Yang Hansen is difficult to restrict.
But like Yang Hansen, against those centers with the same tonnage and more agile movement, Yu Jiahao is also prone to fall into a scoring drought, twice against Li Yanzhe in the Guangzhou Dragon and Lion period, only 6.5 points, and later with Li Yanzhe in the Xinjiang period 13 points and 6 boards. There is no room for mid-distance shots, and there is a lack of counter-action deformation in the back shot. The solution is to give priority to shooting after blocking and dismantling or catching the ball under the basket after Flex cover (closer to the basket, basically no need to play with back, eat raw by height), and on the heavy interior (with height, strength, no speed), and prioritize mid-range shooting or down the frame.
The problem of insufficient confrontation is placed in front of Yu Jiahao and Yang Hansen, just like the problems encountered by Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin in international competitions in the past. Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin's solution is to increase confrontation and improve low-post technology, but unfortunately, although there is a certain improvement, in the face of European, American and non-center forwards with better physical fitness, the increased technology can only be regarded as a drop in the bucket, the idea may be right, but it is not enough, more importantly, in addition to increasing confrontation, it is necessary to increase the ability to respond and project, which is what Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin lack the most, which is also the reason why the Chinese men's basketball team once the guard is restricted, the offense will be completely stagnant.
Unfortunately, the confrontation between Yu Jiahao and Yang Hansen may be worse than that of Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin, but fortunately, this obvious disadvantage just forced Yu Jiahao and Yang Hansen to play more team and spatial, team + space, which is the most useful thing in international competitions.
I hope that Yu Jiahao and Yang Hansen, the two post-00 big centers, can give you the answer to become the No. 5 position in the Chinese men's basketball team. Rather than being discouraged without end, I would rather feel the hopeful process before the disappointing outcome, and people know that they are going to die, and they should never scribble their lives.